Archive for the tag “vegetarian”

As I’ve mentioned before, I had my wisdom teeth out on Friday, and so, in anticipation of that, I spent a lot of last week prepping most of the soups on the recipe list. I could also rename this post, “Why an immersion blender is my best friend.”

First, I made this vegan herbed carrot soup from 10th Kitchen. This soup is fantastic. It’s light, it’s fresh and it’s so, so healthy. It’s helpful to have around when you can’t chew any real fruits or vegetables–it gets me my veggies! I’ve been eating the soup hot, but I’m sure it would be really refreshing cold, as well, like a carrot gazpacho.

This soup is the first installment of “Why an immersion blender is my best friend.” I actually forgot I even had an immersion blender until I moved, and in the process of packing up the kitchen came across a really old one that I assumed was broken. But we plugged the thing in and, I’ll be damned, it worked! That was a great day. Now I’ve checked one thing off my ever-growing list of kitchen gadgets. Plus, it saves me the inevitable burns from pouring hot soup contents into a blender and back again.

I also cooked up a batch of ginger-chicken soup from Bon Appétit. The recipe called for six quarts of water to three pounds of chicken, which all the commenters said was WAY too much. I halved the recipe to begin with, so I was only using about a pound and a half of chicken (once I removed the breast that cooked in the initial stock to use in my chicken pot pie), so I cut the water down to eight cups to result in a richer tasting broth. I also then added in some extra chicken stock I had left in the fridge at the end.

With the extra concentration of the chicken flavor, the ginger was kind of lost; I probably should have added more ginger to counterbalance the extra stock. Nonetheless, in the end it made a good chicken soup, even if it tasted standard and not ginger-y. But I made a pretty decent broth (round one.)

Round two of cooking chicken stock from scratch was the base for alanabread’s creamy leek and garlic soup. This soup. Oh, what can I say about this soup? This soup is so good that I was licking the spoon as it cooked. Like cake batter. It was, however, very, VERY thick when I only used half the chicken stock I made. (The recipe was supposed to yield double the stock needed for the soup.) I ended up adding all the stock to get the right soup-like consistency. After only half the stock, it was more like a thin mashed potato puree than a soup. (A delicious potato puree, though. I’m totally considering remaking this one, but doctored into mashed potatoes rather than soup. That would be one killer side dish.)

What makes this soup so OMG is the two bulbs of roasted garlic. Roasted garlic is sweet and aromatic, not spicy and pungent like in its raw form. And it smells amazing. I now highly recommend adding it to everything. Especially anything potato-based.

There’s just the tiniest amount of dairy in this soup, too; most of the creaminess comes from potato, with just 100 ml of light cream added at the end. And it’s heavenly. I think I found my new favorite soup. Also, see installment two of “Why an immersion blender is my best friend.”

With options like this, my post-surgery soft diet is way less boring than run-of-the-mill canned soups and applesauce (and much healthier.) It’s making the whole recovery process much smoother. (No pun intended!)

I want to preface this post by saying I mean absolutely no disrespect to Mimi from Manger, who’s cabbage, onion and walnut tart I cooked recently. And while it was undoubtedly one of the prettiest things I’ve ever cooked (it’s purple!), it was, well, unsatisfying. That being said, I don’t eat cooked cabbage, like, ever. I’m the person who orders pizza on St. Patrick’s Day. I don’t even like the way it smells. So I should have known that cooking a dish almost entirely composed of the stuff wouldn’t fare too well. Maybe it’s a French thing. I must just not be sophisticated enough to understand.

Kevin ate a whole slice; I made it through a bite and called it a day–luckily we had already had a leftover pot pie. Possibly more balsamic would have made it better; Kevin suggested a balsamic reduction over the whole thing rather than just two tablespoons. I agree that that may have improved it and kind of covered up the cabbage taste.

All that being said, it’s not a bad recipe for cabbage-lovers. It’s just not a great recipe for non-cabbage fans. It’s one of the only two things I’ve made this month that I’ve ended up throwing out almost in its entirety. (See the pumpkin pie bread pudding) But while that was just poorly made (the squash didn’t cook enough, for one), this came out just fine (it was clearly cooked enough and correctly), I just wasn’t a fan. But Mimi’s recipe was good and very quick and easy, so it’s a great vegetarian weekday entrée or side dish.

I served it with crème fraîche and parsley, like she suggested, which definitely complements it well. (What? Just cause I didn’t like it doesn’t mean I can’t tell what flavors do and don’t meld.)

*Side note: Mimi, if you’re reading, HOW did you get it to set up so well? As soon as I sliced this, the veggies fell out everywhere, but yours is so lovely and tidy. What’s your secret?

So, in short…fine recipe, not my taste, so didn’t care for it. But it sure looks nice! (Again, I’m a sucker for anything purple, especially food.)

Well, folks, this is pretty much the halfway point! And what better way to commemorate than soba noodles?

Why soba? Well, because who doesn’t love a steaming hot bowl of noodles?

These soba noodles from Pickled Plum were probably my most “exotic” recipe yet. I mean that in the sense of the ingredients. I spent more time in the international aisle for this recipe than for any other, and, in the end, some adjustments had to be made. I couldn’t find certain things on the list, like fish cakes (okay, not that I really looked that hard…) and ichimi pepper. But luckily, I found out ichimi is basically just a hot Japanese chili pepper, so I used a little chili powder instead. I almost couldn’t find the dried fish flake (katsuo bushi) for the sauce, but I found an unfortunately large package of it at the last minute.

I ended up halving the amount of fish flake in the sauce because I was afraid it would impart too much of a fishy flavor, because when I opened that package, whoa baby was it fishy! But I think the full two tablespoons actually would’ve been fine. The flavor seems way milder than the smell.

To be completely honest, I don’t think what I bought were truly soba noodles. I bought rice flour and buckwheat vermicelli (soba are buckwheat), but I don’t think that’s actually the same thing. Close enough though, right? These were great gluten-free noodles, though. I gave the rest to my mom to try because I liked them better than most gluten-free pasta substitutes I’ve tried (like brown rice pasta), and they were cheap. I have a bunch of sauce and toppings left, so I’ll probably go buy actual soba noodles and make it again.

This dish was an unbridled success. It took only as long as it took to heat up the sauce and boil the noodles, so basically no longer than any other pasta. Plus, it’s warm and cozy and totally customizable–add pretty much whatever you want with as much or as little sauce as you want. You could totally add chicken, pork, shrimp or fish to this and make it a more filling meal. We went with grated ginger, grated daikon (a large, white, Asian radish), chopped scallions and cilantro. I also spent way too much time in the international aisle at Wegmans hunting down nori, found some, and then forgot to add it to the soba. Oops. It’s there for next time. (Confession: I ate this along with pizza. Not traditional and very weird, but it was there and I love pizza. Sue me.)

Truth be told, I’m leaving the wasabi out next time. I thought I just put the smallest bit in, but holy cow! I couldn’t finish my bowl–I gave it to Kevin. It was SO spicy. (To me, anyway, but we all know I’m a spice wimp.) Anyway, next time I’m just saying “no” to wasabi.

Wasabi or no wasabi, soba is a great cold winter day meal or home sick meal, because it’s so cozy and warming and a fun alternative to the usual pasta or soup. And it’s quick! (And if you have a cold or sinus infection, just mix a little extra wasabi in there and BAM! Sinuses cleared.)

We’re getting international, folks! This challenge is filled with vegetarian recipes, and this is just another one. As a matter of fact, this is the recipe Kevin got excited about, which may mark the first time he’s ever gotten excited over anything strictly vegetarian, except pizza and Twisted Tree vegan ginger cookies.

I should tell you that, for whatever reason, I was totally frazzled Wednesday evening when I was cooking this. It’s super easy, but my head was just not in the game. I got caught up on the phone with my mom, and before I know it, the water’s boiling, so I dump in the cauliflower before realizing I’ve yet to chop the potato. Then I think I let them cook too long, because the finished product was a bit softer and mushier than the original recipe photos. That being said, it still worked. It was more like a traditional curry.

I also completely disregarded measuring the cauliflower and just dumped it all in in haste, so I’m pretty sure I had more than two cups, so I had to keep adjusting the spices accordingly. In the end, I still think it came out a tad bland. (UPDATE: eating it as leftovers for lunch a couple days later, I’ve changed my mind. I think the spices just needed some more time to meld and develop.)

Then there were the peas. I just kept dumping more in cause I like peas. I see nothing wrong with that.

From there, things got better. I let it simmer. Even the most absent-minded girl can do that. My curry came out wetter and yellower than the original recipe, but that, again, could be due to my ratios being off. Still, I wanted more of a sauce-like curry, so I added in about a 1/4 to a 1/2 cup of light cream at the end, as per her suggestion. In the end, I liked the texture, even if it was a bit soft. (It actually kind of reminded me of curried chicken salad in spice and texture, which I like.)

We toasted up some whole wheat pita in place of flatbread and dug in! Kevin’s never had curry before, but he enjoyed this one. And I’ve been enjoying the leftovers. She recommends adding them to naan or pizza, but I’ve just been eating them with a fork. Works for me.

“Gluten-free” anything often seems daunting to me, but this recipe (from Gluten-Free Girl, natch ) just makes so much sense. Fry the eggplant without breading it first. Duh. (Also makes for a healthier fried eggplant.) This is also vegetarian, though definitely not vegan. So. Much. Cheese. YES!

*Side note:There are a lot of vegetarian dishes on this list. I don’t hate it. Kevin even got excited about making one tonight. More on that later.*

This was my first deep-frying endeavor, and I only walked away with minor burn marks. Victory! My yoga clothes may have taken a bit more of a beating, though…luckily I was wearing my black hoodie. (Yes, I know, I have an apron, but what good are exercise clothes if they’re not able to take a little oil splatter?)

There’s an irony here: Sunday marked my return to yoga, as I took my first class in ages, courtesy of Groupon. Then I went home and deep-fried a perfectly innocent vegetable. Life’s all about balance, my friends. (How very yogi of me.)

Anyway, this recipe’s pretty great on its own, I just halved it, as per usual. Mainly because I rarely have 4-8 people to feed. This recipe probably would have been even better if 1) my knife skills were better (i.e., actually cutting the eggplant into 1-inch slices, not some 1-inch slices, some 1/2-inch slices and some choppy pieces because the whole slicing thing wasn’t working out so well) and 2) I baked it in a shallower dish. Because I halved the quantity, a 9×13 baking dish seemed way too large for my meager eggplant, so I stacked in all in a small but deep casserole dish instead. It was a little…mushy. One of the two aforementioned things is likely to blame.

Nonetheless, it tasted good. Fried eggplant, even on its own, is pretty tasty. It made a good cooking snack. (Maybe eggplant chips will be the new “it” thing! Hey, a girl can dream.) My mom gave it a passing grade and especially like the less-common addition of the sautéed peppers and onions for a little flavor and bite. And the cheese. All the cheese. That alone makes up for any perceived imperfections.

Day 6 may be one of my most successful recipe challenge day yet (or at least my mom would think so…she gave a double-thumbs up to both these recipes. Consider them added to the bank!)

Vegetarian chili and granola is a strange combination, but trust me…I didn’t eat them together! I had actually intended to make the granola the day before, but after not one, but TWO separate grocery store trips, I came home to realize that the oats I swore I had at home were nowhere to be found. It’s pretty hard to make granola without oats. So I bought oats the next day, THEN I made granola. And it. is. awesome. As a matter of fact, I didn’t even halve this recipe–I had a feeling this one would be good, so I have a big container of it sitting in my cabinet now, just waiting to adorn all sorts of yogurt. (Or milk and strawberries, in place of cereal. Or just straight out of the container into my mouth. Also delicious.)

The great thing about the recipe from Dining With Dostoevsky (major props for the name, btw) was the room for adaptation. I followed largely to the T, as I said I would, with a few exceptions: for one, she used a honey-water solution, but mentioned that you could use pure maple syrup, as well. So, naturally, I had to take that invitation (I adore maple syrup). My final sweetener ratio ended up being 3/4 cup maple syrup and 3 tablespoons dark brown sugar (not light like the recipe called for, but it’s what I had.) And honestly, I could probably remake this with even less syrup/sugar and it would still be great.

I also got home and could not find my pumpkin seeds ANYWHERE. Seriously, they still haven’t turned up, even though Kevin was eating them the day before. (I think he ate them all.) Anyway, no big loss for me there…I don’t even really like pumpkin seeds. Worked for me. I also couldn’t find any “extra thick” rolled oats, so I used regular rolled oats. They worked fine.

Also…the recipe calls for cardamom, and I skipped it. (Gasp! I know…) Thing is, cardamom is, like, crazy expensive. It was $10-11 for a regular 1-2 ounce container, $13 if I wanted whole pods. Since cardamom has a unique flavor, I didn’t try substituting anything for it. The granola was still delicious, and the maple flavor came through a lot, though I imagine the cardamom would make it extra special.

*Sidebar: This challenge is making me poor. My grocery bills have been well over $100 a week, and that’s only including the bare minimum of basic groceries in addition to the ingredients. I should start a fundraising campaign so I can afford things like cardamom and duck fat. If anyone wants to send me money (or cardamom), I wouldn’t turn it away. I should create a Kickstart fund or something! *end sidebar

However, I kept everything else as-is–even the pistachios, and I don’t care for pistachios. But it all works well together. Of course, I could always do with adding another cup or eight of apricots!

While the granola baked, I made the vegetarian chili from Nutritionist in the Kitch. I’ve never made chili because it always seemed intimidating, but really the only moderately difficult part of this recipe was prepping and chopping all the vegetables. Once it’s on the stove, it more or less just does its own thing.

Prepping the chili ingredients…more cans than I realized, but also plenty of fresh veggies!

I found red quinoa, not white quinoa, at the supermarket, and I actually really loved the extra shade of red it added into the chili–red peppers, tomatoes, red kidney beans and now the red quinoa. Of course, I scraped all the seeds out of the jalapeño, but you could keep them in for more heat (we all know my stance on spicy food by now.)

She included plain yogurt and scallions as toppings for the chili, but I love grated cheddar on my chili, so I added that instead. Add whatever you like!

My mom absolutely loved this one, though she claimed it needed meat. Somehow I think she’s an even bigger carnivore than Kevin (who also gave this the seal of approval. Pretty sure he agrees with the need for meat, though.) Personally, I think this chili has more than enough protein on its own already, with two types of beans and quinoa. But sure, you could add some ground beef if you want.

Two totally unrelated (but healthy!) recipes, but two certified successes. It was a good night. I should listen to showtunes on Pandora while I cook more often–apparently they give me good vibes!

Can you tell I had to use up my butternut squash? I got the last of the good pieces in just in time to make this yummy, filling salad from A Communal Table. It still wasn’t quite as good as the kale and butternut salad from Day 4, but it was a solid contender, and a good light meal to eat while catching up on two hours of Smash. Also quite a good lunch the next day (just make sure you don’t dress it ahead of time if you’re planning on leftovers.)

I made only three adjustments/modifications to this recipe: 1) I halved it since I was the only one eating it. 2) I left out the mushrooms because I really can’t stand them. And 3) I chopped the shallots for the dressing instead of sliced them because my slices didn’t look good.

Aside from prepping the bread and roasting the squash, this is a pretty quick, simple salad to make. And those croutons are the bomb. Plus, they make your house smell like yummy, toasting bread and who doesn’t like that?

This salad automatically wins in my book if just for one simple thing: marcona almonds. What is a marcona almond, you ask? Well, it’s a Spanish almond that is skinless, smooth and buttery, almost like a cross between an almond and a macadamia nut and it. is. heavenly. Wegmans only had one marcona offering: a small(ish) can of salted almonds. It was pretty expensive for what I got, but it was so worth it–these bad boys are so good! If you ever get your hands on marcona almonds, try them! (Trader Joe’s carries rosemary marcona almonds, which are amazing! But I couldn’t get out there.)

This salad ends the reign of the butternut squash recipes. I burned through them. Don’t think there isn’t a sweet potato or two waiting in the wings still, though.

I kept it simple on Monday. Coming off my marathon-cooking weekend and a late night thanks to the Super Bowl, I hadn’t done any extra shopping and was feeling pretty low-key. Luckily, I had planned ahead on my last shopping trip and picked up extra kale, butternut squash and almonds for the week ahead. All I needed was some cheese and I had everything on hand to recreate Northern Spy’s Kale Salad (recipe courtesy of Food52).

I sent my wonderful and adoring boyfriend out for some cheese to complete this meal, and although he could not find the Cabot Clothbound cheddar that Kristen of Food52 so vehemently praised, he did come back with some Kerry Gold two-year aged Irish “distinctively sharp” cheddar. And I wasn’t complaining. That’s some knock-your-socks-off good cheese. If it’s possible for a cheddar to taste like a Parmesan, this does. Kevin, you hit this one out of the park. Good work.

This recipe calls for oven-roasted butternut squash, and, unlike Sunday’s undercooked squash disaster, this time it roasted up nice and sweet and soft. Mix into chopped kale and almonds, add the cheddar and shaved pecorino, dress with lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper and dig in. It’s crunchy-chewy, salty-sweet, oily-acidic. It’s perfect. This was one of the best kale salads I’ve ever had, and I’ve had some good kale salads. I get why Northern Spy keeps it on their menu. Serve with anything, or on its own. We ate it with leftovers from the weekend.

And although the squash takes about 30-40 minutes to roast, this is otherwise a super-speedy lunch or dinner, and simple. Chopping and roasting the squash is the brunt of the prep work.

This one’s a clear winner in my book, and a nice break after a day of heavy eats. Also goes to show sometimes simple is best. Thank goodness I needed to leave to walk the dog, or poor Kevin may not have gotten any of this salad. I couldn’t stop eating it. I wasn’t even hungry anymore and I still found myself digging in.

Seriously, I’m still thinking about this salad. And drooling. Over SALAD. Yeah, that happened.

Something pretty amazing happened on Saturday, aka Day 2 of my 31-recipe challenge: I got the carnivore (well, omnivore) to go herbivore and LIKE IT!

That’s right, I got my meat-loving man to eat a vegetarian meal and admit that not only did he like it, but he would eat it again! *cue happy dance #2 for the weekend*

Only two days into this thing, and I’m already seeing some pretty amazing things happen.

I’m sure you’re wondering what the magic recipe was that turned this T-Rex into a Brontosaurus. Well, it was two! It was these Asian-fusion sweet potato tacos from Love and Lemons and this winter kale salad from A Tasty Love Story.

The sweet potato tacos with avocado involved several steps, but none were terribly complicated. If anything, I became more a victim of my apartment-sized kitchen’s lack of prep space more than anything else. Basically: make glaze, chop veggies, glaze veggies, roast veggies, prep toppings, eat. Said toppings include goodies like sliced avocado, cilantro, sprouts, toasted pepitas and scallions.

However, this dish almost wasn’t quite the same due to my own trepidations. As I stood in Wegmans on Friday staring at the refrigerator shelf that housed those few sad containers of miso paste, I, well, freaked out. Thirteen ounces?? Seven dollars?? I only need two tablespoons! What am I going to do with 13 ounces? Seven dollars is WAY too much for something I’m only going to use a tiny bit of! Once! Alas, then Kevin said (via text) those magical three words that somehow made such a seemingly outlandish purchase alright: “We’ll make soup.” Ah, ok, we’ll make soup. Yes, we’ll make soup.

And so there you have it. I bought miso paste, a very key ingredient for what ended up being a fairly brilliant miso-maple glaze, and sometime in the near-ish future (i.e., after February), I will make miso soup. A lot of miso soup. And probably more sweet potatoes.

Oh! P.S. sidenote…fresh toasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds) smell pretty darn good. But not as good as toasted balsamic-honey almonds. (I’ll get to that in a moment, stick around.) Also, can we take a moment to appreciate and applaud my lovely hand model? (The aforementioned T-Rex.)

Extra sidenote…the recipe includes a fresh, bright, somehow summery coconut-cilantro sauce to top the tacos (yum!) You can optionally add Sriracha and sugar to this sauce; I added neither. It didn’t need it. (And as I admitted on Day 1, I’m kind of a wimp when it comes to bringing the heat.) But really, if you know me at all or have read my blog even a little, you probably know by now that anything that combines avocado, lime and cilantro is A-OK in my book.

But that was not all! Oh no! There was that beautiful winter salad of pomegranate, kale and apple to attend to.

Somehow, despite the fact that the five pomegranates left in the produce section seemed truly sad, and I settled for the least bad of them, I ended up with some really lovely, delicious pomegranate jewels. Seriously, I should’ve taken a picture of them, because they looked semi-precious.

This salad is fun and fast, and plays with flavors in an interesting way. It also calls for shredded kale, rather than big leaves, so I stuffed torn leaves into my Magic Bullet (in small batches), and whizzed it with the chopping blade for a hot second. It was like kale confetti. (I don’t want that coming out of my pinata, though.)

The most involved part of the salad were the aforementioned balsamic-glazed almonds. Basically, toast raw almonds, add balsamic vinegar and honey, and stir to coat over the stovetop. Then they harden up and get deliciously glossy and sticky. And I have leftovers sitting in a bag at home. I call it the base to the world’s best trail mix. (Oh yes, they are that good. Seriously, go home and make these! They take, like, five minutes and it’s like a way more sophisticated version of those yummy-smelling glazed nuts stands at the mall.)

Toss kale, pomegranate arils, thinly sliced apples and glazed almonds with a quick homemade vinaigrette and enjoy! Just don’t make too much dressing and then hand it off to someone else and let them finish the salad. They won’t realize you’ve made more dressing than necessary and they WILL just dump it all on. Then it will taste like balsamic with a little salad. Not that that happened, of course. (Totally happened.)

Still, it was clear these flavors were meant to be. And boy was it pretty! It was like a winter season fashion show–jewel tones everywhere!

And after sitting down with a heaping sweet potato taco and a big, colorful bowl of kale salad, Kevin declared the meal a winner and even admitted he’d eat it for a meal again (without meat.) Of course, even after three tacos and the majority of the salad, he still finished off a bag of popcorn at the movies that night, so *maybe* I should take that with a grain of salt. Nonetheless, I declare it a victory.

Of course, my cooking for the weekend was hardly done. After all, Kevin hosted a Super Bowl party on Sunday, and yours truly was, effectively, the caterer. Cue the marathon cooking day that was my Sunday (more to come…)

It’s August, which means there’s still a month or so of summer left (almost two, technically) and still plenty of grilling and barbecue opportunities. Also, it means we’re coming into the hottest days of the year, and hot, heavy food just doesn’t always sound so appealing. Sometimes, in the East Coast heat, I just want a cool and refreshing snack or light meal that will leave me satisfied but not weighed down. And that, folks, is how I got my avocado-black bean salsa.

I made this stuff on a whim one night after I bought ripe Haas avocados and some canned black beans. Served with some super-addictive Trader Joe’s plantain chips, I couldn’t put this stuff down! I ate it for dinner, a late-night snack AND lunch the next day!

It’s the perfect summer snack and an awesome side dish to bring to your next barbecue–a fun and nutritious way to mix it up from regular salsa or mayo-laden picnic salads.

Seriously, make this salsa and you’ll never want to stop! It will become a staple for your summer, for sure!

One thing I’d like to note: I always look for no salt added canned beans–they’re much more convenient than dried beans, but canned beans are notorious for their sodium content. Rienzi sells all sorts of no salt added beans, which I love, so my pantry’s stocked with black beans, cannellini (white) beans and chickpeas. I still rinse the beans, though, to get off any extra salt and to improve the texture (they’re still canned in liquid, so they are a little slimy otherwise.) By rinsing them, it also allows me to almost completely control the amount of salt that goes into my food.

Mix the first five ingredients together, being careful not to overly mash the avocado. Mix in lime juice, and season with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes to taste. Serve with veggies, tortilla chips, plantain chips or use as a topping for, well, anything you want! (This would go great over salad greens, steak, grilled chicken, burgers, you name it!)

This is so fast and so easy, and it brings a bounty of veggies and a healthy dose of protein and fiber to the party!